How to Run Caesar II in Windows XP

Playing Caesar II from within Windows XP can be an issue. The following steps will help you get the original DOS version of Caesar II running under Windows XP. If you do not already have a copy of Caesar II go get one then come back here. Thanks to Thomas Crowe for putting this step-by-step together.

Step 1: Ensure that Caesar II is Installed
The standard location for the Caesar II install is in a folder in the root of your c-drive named “caesar2″. Confirm that Caesar II is installed to this location, or copy the game files from the CD to that folder.

I’m having the same “Illegal command:c2.bat” problem with my windows version of Caesar II. I tried having my computer run the program with the compatibility wizard, but nothing happens. I put the cd in, and a screen pops up asking if you want to play. I click yes, and it says the program isn’t found. I click install, and nothing happens. If you can help, I would greatly appreciate it.

Vaccyn, Mari, and Sarah – the error you are getting is probably because you are using the Windows version and not the Dos version of Caesar II. In order to use these instructions you need to start with the Dos version of Caesar II.

I have the same problem as Vaccyn, Mari and Sarah. But I don’t understand how we can start with the Dos version of Caesar II. Because when I was using it with windows 95, it would automatically shut down the pc and go to dos. Now with windows xp, it doesn’t automatically do that.

Thanks for the email. I was trying to run the game by copying the game files from a cd version of caesar2, which turns out to be a windows version. So I got the dos version … extracted the files into my c drive and repeated the steps above. Works perfectly! Thanks a lot!

Hey there. I downloaded a free version of the game and I just run it from my Dos Command Prompt in the Accessories file in Windows XP. I don’t have any real problems with gameplay EXCEPT for 2 things:
1) It doesn’t play any music, just voice and and occasional music during events like Invasions.

2) The game crashes whenever I chose to take command during a battle. It says there is a problem with a file, but I don’t know the name of it off-hand.

I sailed through all the steps. it worked like a dream.. the only remaining issue is the sound setting which is not covered in the steps.. I have run “setsound.exe” from the game directory and chosen the first 100% compatible and automatic configuration.. the program says it is done successfully but on running the game still dont get any sound.. I have XP platform. can you help please? ..thanks

I got the answer to the sound problem: just run the setsound program from caesar2 directory and put these values : A220 I5 D1 T3 P330. by choosing to manually put the port details.. it worked for me.. although the auto configure program always returned a success result but no sound was coming. just using the manual configurations solved the problem.. I didnt even have to change the values they were already set to recommended 220, and 5 etc.. here is the link to the site with more details in part 6 about this topic.. http://www.dosgames.com/xphints.php .. take care

Karin..If you having a windows version is causing a problem then I can send you the DOS version of this game in Zipped form. I hope the admin wont have any problem with that. if you want me to send you the game then I suggest you make a temporary email account and post it as a comment here.. I will send over the game to you..it is working for me on my laptop and it will surely work for you, regards

about combat issue: the exact error reads … ” Error Loading battle data – RO2SWDA.PL8 not found”.
I didn’t read comment number 20 which is stating the same problem like my comment 26. sorry about that. so the missing file is “RO2SWDA.PL8″

As far as the sound issue is concerned I will say run the setsound program and enter the A220 I5 D1 T3 P330 settings by choosing the manual configuration instead of auto detection. the sound issue was resolved for me by following this step. regards

Illegal command issue: Please don’t forget to “change drive to C:” before running the game with c2.bat.. you will get this error every time when the active drive is Z: ..(Admin.. my appologies for flooding the message board)

Thank you for the additional details Tony. To get rid of the error “Error Loading battle data – RO2SWDA.PL8 not found” please download this file to the same directory as the rest of your game files:RO2SWDA.PL8

RO2SWDA.PL8 is not the only file the game can need for a battle.
There is a PL8 directory in the Caesar 2 cd, he contains 18 Mo of data.
They are surely dont all needed (when you read names) but i have just
put all the folder in my Caesar2 directory, cause am lazzy lol.

Search DosBox on google.
I have vista and i play the Dos version with Dos Box.
For the battles, if you want to be sure a missing file dont crash the game, put the PL8 folder of the win version in the same folder of C2.bat =]

Hi! I am also having the same problem as of most of the people who commented on this page, Everytime i type in call c2.bat it comes up with Illegal command. Ive been trying to get this game to work for months and have had no luck PLEASE HELP appreciated.

Hello,
I have the original cd of Caesar 2 that I want to install on XP. I pop in the disk and the autoplay brings up the Install/Cancel dialog. I select Install and it plays a little tune and starts a “Sierra On-line Setup” block down on the task bar. Then it just sits there. Win Task Manager indicates that it is running but there is no processor demand.

Hey, guys. I have a nice and quiet solution to the battle problem (RO2SPRB.PL8 not found)
Win version, dos version, i don’t care. Just download all the *.pl8 files from http://www.sailor.wz.cz/_pl8.rar, copy the files to you caesar2 directory and you’ll be fine (And you don’t have to install caesar strictly into c:, the game will work on any drive).

I just hope there won’t be any trouble with admins, but i guess since i’m not posting the whole game but only a few files to increase the in-game performance for people that already DO have the game, it should be fine. I hope.

Having the same exact problem as Rob up there. I cant install it. I press install, the old sierra sound goes off and the window does nothing. Would love some help as I remember enjoying this game alot.

I am having the same problem has many people above. First, I try to install and the Sierra On-line Setup music plays and createst a block on the taskbar and then stops and nothing else happens. Second, I tried the instructions above but receive the “illegal command” message. Thanks for any help.

I have tried 2 routes (my experience is identical to Sean’s (post 46):

1. Installing my old Windows/DOS C2 CD-ROM, to no avail (the legendary “illegal command” line again when using DOSBox). Maybe somebody (Tony? – post 25) would be kind enough to let me know where I can get a DOS version of the game that’s Vista-friendly (as that seems the best option)?

2. As my French is passable, I looked into the site Jean (posts 37 and 38) mentions. Jean, did you download from there and if so, could you get it to work?

Thanks for any help; I would be very interested to hear of anyone who’s managed to get this game going using Vista.

I am pretty sure I have the DOS version of the game but when I type in call c2.bat it says it is illegal command. I really love this game. If anyone has a way to get this game working with Windows Vista. Please let me know. Thanks so much!

to go to fullscreen in dosbox just hold down ALT and press ENTER that should do it, and to go back to window just repeat process also f11 and f12 works to slow down the game and speed up the game.
Im having a problem, I want to play the game to the end and capture all of the provinces… you know keep playing after getting 5 promotions, but I cant!! it just tosses me into the first screen =( dosbox or no dosbox, any one have a solution? il keep checking regularly.
if there is a mod or is that the whole game?

Hi, i believe i may also have the windows version of this game. although the game itself says it can be used on dos. I tried to un-install it on windows, but its saying the file was corrupted or something. could i just delete it? im not quite sure what to do…would you be willing to send me an email.

I have the same problem as a few other people. I run the autoplay, and get the install or quit option with the C2 logo in the background(No music or sound at this point). After I hit install, windows says it is not responding, but it’s not using any processor speed. The buttons go away and after a minute or two the autoplay screen disappears as windows shuts it down. Changing my theme doesn’t help, nor does putting the install and autoplay files into Win95 compatibility mode. Any suggestions?

1. Get the newest available version of dosbox.
2. Make a directory called caesarII in just your c drive (location will be c:caesarII)
3. Put ALL caesar II game files in the folder you just made
4. Run dos-box
5. Type exactly: mount c c:caesarII
6. type exactly: C:
7. type exactly: c2.bat
8. Notice I didn’t use the expression “call.”
9. When it asks you to hit space to run off hard drive, do so.
10. When you see the sierra logo appear press alt-enter for full screen and enjoy.

Now that I left a comment the size of asia, I have a question of my own. I’m having some texture problems with large palaces. Is anyone else experiencing this? If so, do you know of a fix? The textures seem to be pulling random pieces of the 3×3 forum or something. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

I can’t take screenshots in Caesar II with either Screenprint button or Fraps…anyone have an idea how to get screenies? it is running fine on XP SP2 Btw, i use VDMS for sound but so afar I can run it fine with the CD just no screenshots

Still looking for a way to take screnshots in native CII, i know you can grab em with Dosbox so i may use that, but wondered if anyone had success with any capture programs? for some reason, not even Print Screen will get a shot thanks
Cris

Great…same problem. Windows version downloaded I’m sure of it. c2.bat doesn’t work at all for me. Tried a number of times to get this sucker crackin’ and it’s not working. If possible can I get the hook up on that zip file for the dos version? I’m itching to play this game so bad I can taste it! Help me out, please.

While I have taken steps to secure a DOS copy of the game, I would still like to use my Windows 95 CD instead. Has anyone had any luck on making this run? When I start a game, it goes immediately back to the options and will not let me play unless I select the tutorial. Although I can then exit the tutorial and play, two bad things happen after that: I cannot fight battles myself (the game immediately crashes) and I can only play one province. Upon selecting the next province, apparently I end up conquering it, too, and so on until I run out of provinces…a great way to conquer the known world, but no fun. Selecting 256-color mode is worse than useless, and selecting Windows 95 mode does not help. Any useful advice would be appreciated.

Hello. I really want to thank all of the people involved in this project. It’s great to see so many people who still lovew this game as much as i do. I still have the original disc (wich is a miracle considering it belonged to my grandmother) and i wanted to play it again on my computer. I managed to play it with DOSbox and the feeling is roughly the same, still there’s a thing that bothers me and i still can’t get it to work: The sound.

You see, when i played the game back then (1996 on my grandma’s Aptiva), there was this MIDI sound music that played in the background and changed accordingly to what was happening at the moment (if there was a fire, if there was an invasion, or a plague, or whatever. Even when you solved the problem, it changed). I’ve tried everything to find out how to emulate the sound, given the fact the disc still contains the files somewhere. I’ve tried changing the drivers in “setsound”, trying to play it trough VDMsound, and even cheking at the IBM aptiva hardware listing to check if there was something special about it, but i still can’t get it to throw the MIDI. It still plays the regular ambient sound that goes with every structure you build (and the “woodland” sound you get in province mode), so that is better than nothing, i suppose. But still…

Has anyone managed to get the original MIDI background sound?

I hope there’s an answer somewhere. Excuse the wall of text, i just wanted to give some details and annecdotes. Thanks.

– At first, I tried playing it directly from Windows (i have windows XP). I got some strange music i’ve never heard before and the game splitted out in different windows, so after tasting the infamous “windows version”, i looked away and saved the disc. And no, that’s not what i’m looking for (except for the music in the main menu. That sounded a lot like the original).

– Then i got a copy of the DOS version. I extracted it, then played through Windows (worked out by using the “c2.bat” executable). It played like the DOS version, but even with the CD on it still didn’t get the sound.

– I mounted the CD drive in DOSbox and, even when the game recognizes it, it still didn’t get the sound (however, the battles can be fought manually)

– The only thing weird about the Aptiva was that the sound card and the modem where in the same device (eek!). But i guess that has nothing to do with this, does it?

– My version of the disc (the “about” part in windows version) says “Caesar2 for Win95. v1.01″. The DOS versions i got all say “v1.00″ before thay display the main menu. I really hope that has nothing to do with the problem.

So, if someone knows what’s the issue, or is guessing what could be done, just tell me, i encourage you. I’ll still try to twitch the config to see if something happens.

Well my ceasar buds, think ive solved the little battle problem for you, heres a step by step(by step):
ps.Im assuming ya can get everything working properly up till you give the thumbs up to command. This means all you need are them dratted pl8 files.

1. Go to folders in my computer. if you installed the cd onto your c drve there will be a caesar2 folder. right click and select properties. deselect the READ ONLY box and apply it to all subfolders and such

2.Go down to the cd drive. do the same for the pl8 folders and ignore all attempts to stop you. you can do it.

3. move the pl8 folder from cd drive to desktop

4. open folder, highlight all its contents and move them to the caesar2 file in the c drive.

You should be ready to ball some bad guys in a war, if not make sure all the pl8 files are standing alone in the caesar2 file in c drive. Do i feel like a loser for working this hard on this? yeah. Do i feel like a computer hoss using all this dos nonsense? absolutely. i guess i need someting to do to get through the holidays with the family. Merry Christmas yall

THAAAANK YOU SO MUCH!!! LoL Good work, I cant believe you took the time out to figure a minute part of a game from 1995. Its so good to see such a fan base for a classic game. 1 Million people downloaded dosbox and counting, so I guess Its not surprising that some still have and play this game as it was very popular.

Hi everyone, I’m having similar problems installing this game in dos box from my windows cd version. Up there the administrator sent some people emails with additional comments on how to avoic the “call c2.bat” error? Could someone either forward the email with extra tips or post it on the wall for the benefit of the rest… Thanks. PS. love this game

Hi, i’m also having similar problems installing after following “Comment by Shane — September 23, 2008 @ 8:33 pm” after typing the command c2.bat, it comes up with illegal command havevesa.exe and illegal command ps.exe. any help would be appreciated.

I found the solution to the battle problem, “RO2SPRB.PL8 not found” (None of the previous solutions worked). Go to http://www.4shared.com/file/35105467/bef8135f/_pl8.html, download pl8 folder, select all of the files, then drag them to your “c:caesar2″ folder. After you do this, start the game, and the battles should work.

Hey yall…I’m kind of computer illiterate…but I just found the Caesar 2 disc when I was cleaning out my closet, and decided I really wanted to play. I have a Gateway laptop with Vista…can someone please give me directions on how to get it to work? When I was a kid I used to just put the CD in my computer, and a Window would pop up with instructions to follow…now when I put the disc in, nothing happens. Can someone help me? Thanks so much!

To specify: im looking for what Nelson in comments 69 and 70 was looking for; the ‘MIDI’ files. I have c2 working in dos now (thx), and I also have the original win95 disc. I ran a search for both *.mid and *.midi files in my DOS files, in the win95 c2 folder (I installed that version aswell), and on the CD itself. The search found nothing.

I was able to get the win95 to work as normal in all aspects (including the sound), but when I take charge of a battle, the game crashes. The sound files are obviously there somewhere, but not as MIDI files. What else could they be saved as? And I don’t think they are WAV files either

Hya folks,
The peeps who wonder about the midi files should look at the .xmi files. These contain the midimusic you hear ingame. These are made with Miles Soundsystem. Go here: http://www.radgametools.com/
You find the videoformat used in the game there as well. The .smk files contain the video’s used for events. They are made with Smacker also from Radgametools. So modders take your chance, the tools are there.

Had a problem with c2.bat.
Solved it by copying the file from HD folder onto a floppy (omg, found one in a closet O_o), or can just emulate it onto disc A:
Problem solved =)

Music problem- you will have to run the autorun and push the right button.
Then you will have to make sure that the DOS uses the sound card, it will say that MIDI etc. is off.
By pressing two options above those and selecting your card (which should show 100% compatible) it should automaticly enable them.
After that it should play sound.
Sorry for such crappy walkthrough with no details and names of menu options, but it should do it…

Yes there are .xmi files in my DOS version, 5 of them. On my cd they have their own folder. I always make sure copying them together with all other gamefiles to my HD in the caesar2 folder so I won’t need the cd for gameplay.

To all of those (like me, briefly) who kept getting the error message “Illegal command:c2.bat”. I was typing in ” call c2.bat_ ” and then realized that the underscore I was typing was actually the command prompt on the screen shot. Once I typed it as stated… worked right away and still lovin’ this game 7 years later.

So if you have the Version 1.1 (Windows 95) CD, you can’t run the installer, but it’s still totally usable. Basically, you just want to copy the folder named “HD” to whatever you use as your DosBox C: drive, rename it to something convenient, and then dump all the files from the “PL8″ (when you copy the PL8s, it should say it’s overwriting a single pre-existing file), “SMK,” and “XMI” folders into it. The former “HD” folder should be flat, i.e. no subfolders.

Once that’s done, you should be able to run the game with:
c:
cd caesar2 (or whatever you decided to name the “HD” folder)
c2

I believe that I have a work-around to the ‘auto conquer’ problem that happens when you are promoted, and then each new Province is conqured when you select it.
The problem only seemed to occur in the Windows 95 version of CII, so the solution is to have both the Windows and the DOS version installed, and then swap the save file between the two versions.
Here are the steps. (Starting with the Windows version)
1. As soon as you are nearing your promotion, start saveing often; every few months or so. (The name of the save may need to be shorter than 8 letters)
2. When you are promoted, decline the offer and quit Caesar II without saveing.
3. Go to where the Windows 95 version of Caesar II is installed and copy the .sav file out of the ‘Save’ folder.
4. Go to where you installed the DOS version of Caesar II and paste the .sav file.
5. Launch the DOS version and load the .sav file. Wait until you are promoted.
6. Select your new province and then save your game immediately. (I suggest you save as a new file, eg: ‘promoted’)
7. Quit Caesar II and copy the new .sav file back into the ‘Save’ folder of the Windows version.
8. Launch the Windows version again and load the new game.
Of course, if you are happy playing the game in DOS, you won’t need this.
I hope this helps.

for all you trying to find all the files to play all parts of the game, I have complied them in a single file, if you have had trouble with DOS, sound, videos, noise, or the battle mode, then this should solve your problems. Send me an Email at, jbull2@sbcglobal.net , asking for Caesar2 and I will send it to you probably within the day. This will give you every thing you need to play and run the game using the original instructions given on this page. Have Fun!!!

Hi,
I followed the instructions, and the game is running, it even has sound, but the sound is running super fast.. and the messages are flashing super fast, how can I slow things down? He can only keep saying plebs are needed over and over and over and over so many times before I start pulling my hair out.

Ol, I have the CD and when I play the game background music. But when the game in DOS mode to hear another song. I wish it was the music that plays when you play the CD. No way to get the music from the CD back to DOS? What’s extensive music file? Thanks, hope you understand because a translation done on the Internet, I’m from Brazil.

Please Help!! I’ve been working for over 3 hours trying to get this game set up. I’ve tried both the “call c2.bat” and the “c2.bat” commands with the same result: “illegal command” Can anyone help?? I’m starting to get really annoyed at this point and am hoping someone can help! I downloaded the dos version of the game and put it into a c: directory & followed the steps and still got stuck no matter which way I tried it. Please help! Thanks for any info, guidance one may have to offer – Dazed & Confused

as for comment 107, you need to install the game first, then start up the dosbox, in the dosbox, type

mount c c:caesar2 ( where c:caesar2 should be the 16bit dos version path to your caesar install dir

then type

c:

then type

call c2.bat

If you get the “illegal command” error its likely you’re still in drive Z ( look at the letter in front of your cursor ) you need to chance to the drive you mounted caesar2 too before you can call any files.

you should now get a black screen loading dos4gw asking you to press space to play from harddrive only

after that the game should start. If you have no sound, quit the game, and in the dosbox, type call setsound.exe

follow the on screen instructions ( best bet is to use creative labs soundblaster or 100% compatible )

If the game is too fast, use ctrl f1 or ctrl f12 to speed up / slow down. ( instructions are in the startup screen of dosbox, in the blue area above the actual dos window

As for comment 108, its probably already resolved itself, you need to extract all the files into the caesar2 dir, then restart the dosbox, mount everything again and restart the game. Any changes made to the actual directory from windows will not be in the dosbox untill its reloaded. Mounting is making a virtual image of the directory, only changes made to it from within dosbox register. Any files added / removed do not come into effect untill after the directory is remounted. ( wich dosbox doesn’t seem to have a command for )

to comment 78, you did not go into the ceasar2 directory, Dosbox is NOT dos, instead of using call c2.bat, you are using call c:c2.bat from the z: drive, this results in the call function being unable to locate the ps.exe file since c2.bat links locally, and dosbox looks for ps.exe in Z: instead of c:

I see many people asking about running Caesar II without DOSBox on newer operating systems.

Though this is a guide for installing the game and running it via DOSBox, it is easily possible to install and run this game on Vista and 7 using the Windows 95 version. Also, it won’t even be necessary to run the game in compatability mode when using these newer systems.

On these newer systems it is necessary to run “setup.exe” not “install.exe”, I had previously installed it on my Vista system that way, but much more recently I installed it on 7 using this method.

After running setup.exe and installing the game into Program Files, the game will still refuse to run on 7. This is because it is looking for wing32.dll, which is the pre-DirectX runtime used by Microsoft. This is easiest (and safest) to obtain if you have an older operating system that already contains this file. Once you get a copy it should be placed in the folder called “SysWOW64″, at which point the game should run just fine.

Hope this helps those who would perfer to run the 95 version of Caesar II.

I did it like this:
download the game from abandonia
created new folder called games, put caesar 2 into folder, called it caesar2
type in “mount c c:games”
type in c:
type in cd caesar2
type in PS
play the game!

I’m having sort of a strange problem. I can get the game to run well enough, but the graphics are all messed up – primitive, more like Caesar I, and many are just black. How do I get the graphics to work? I’ve got a Win95 disc, I remember running it on DOS on my old computer but it doesn’t seem to demand that now.

In comment 114 I described how to install and run the Windows 95 version of Caesar II. After installing it this way, with setup.exe and placing wing32.dll into either SysWOW64 (Vista and 7) or System32 (XP), you may notice the 95 verison wants the CD to run. The portion of the game that installs performs a CD check.

Obviously you could get around this by creating an ISO and mounting a virtual drive. But a more efficent method seems to be to create a virtual drive. This can be accomplished in DOS or the command line using the subst command. But for those without experience in DOS, a viable (and much easier) solution is to use a program called virtual subst. http://www.ntwind.com/software/utilities/visual-subst.html

Simply copy all the files from the CD (approxmiately 350MB) to a folder. Say you name this folder caesar 2 cd and place it on your desktop. You can then create a virtual drive, say drive F:, and point it to this folder using visual subst. Then you point Caesar II at this new drive as your CD drive. The game will start without needing the CD.

This creates the possibility to copy the caesar 2 cd folder as well as the folder that is installed on your computer containing the executable and other important files to a USB stick. You can even put a copy of visual subst on the USB stick as well, and tell it to create a virtual drive of your choice on windows start up and point it to the caesar 2 folder on the stick.

The end result is, when you plug in the usb stick, a virtual drive will be created as the caesar 2 cd. You can then run the game completely from the usb stick. Which in effect means you can take caesar 2 with you anywhere. It will play on any machine running any windows operating system this way, provided you have the wing32.dll placed directly into the system32/syswow64 folder.

I got the game to run fine….had to DL it from an emulator site though….i had the windows version CD…..however…its been years since i played it and i dont seem to remember how to get it to run in english….i dont speak german….perhaps i should learn?

Wow I just found this game in my drawer the other day and I am dying to play it. Glad to see there is still so much interest from other people. Anyway, it is a windows version of the game. I am running Windows 7 on a 64 bit system. I was able to download the “XP Mode” via the Windows website. Doing so, I have been able to play Rise and Rule of Ancient Empires, another one of my favorite games from the time. I was also able to install and run Caesar II. However, every time I try to begin a campaign the two normal windows come up, the city window and the command window, but then the start new game window pops back up over top of my game. I remember having this same problem 10 years ago after my dad got rid of his old Win95 computer and got a new one. Anyone know how to get around this?
Thanks In Advance.

1) download the game from abandonia
2) created new folder called games, put caesar 2 into folder, called it caesar2
3) type in “mount c c:games”
4) type in c:
5) type in cd caesar2
6) type in PS
7) Hit space bar
play the game!

Dear all, I was checking out this great game again recently. I haven’t played a proper C2 game in like 10 years since I changed over to Windows XP and now Windows 7.

Downloaded the free DOS version with all the PL8 files and stuff, worked great on DosBox. For those who have the Windows CD like me and dearly want to hear the music (which I really love), check out Kevin’s comments #114 and #117 on the wing32.dll file. Works like a charm!! =)

Okay, so I have spent a good part of my afternoon fiddling with this battle nonsense, but here’s whatcha do.

Download the file posted on #29. If you’re like me, a similar message will pop up saying that you’re missing some sort of similar file. When that happens, you copy the file found on #29 a few times and rename them accordingly:

That got me started so that I can play out the battle. However, they all look like Heavy Infantry (possibly because I just dubbed the same file a whole bunch of times and put it in the slots of the others). If this is, in fact, a real problem and not just me forgetting what it is supposed to look like, then I’m sure everyone would love all the real versions of these files (all .PL8) if they are out there.

Hi…I have a windows vista computer and I downloaded the game. It works great except for one thing. The screen is big like it is supposed to be, but most of it shows the columns as a background. The actual map where you play is 1/4 of the screen so it is to tiny to play. The rest of the screen is the background and the toolbox. How do I fix it to where I can just see the toolbox and the rest of the screen is my playing map?

Here are some details from Japo on the Abandonia foums:
“…Look also for “output=” and set it to “overlay”, and “fullresolution=” to the maximum, native resolution of your monitor (in my case for example, “1920×1080″). Make sure to save the changes and close the notepad.

(If you have a 4:3 monitor the image should fill the whole of it, but if you have a wide screen you’ll get black stripes left and right. Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong about it, otherwise the image would be distorted; if you wish to learn more, read about “fullresolution” in the configuration file tutorial. However you should never see black space at the top and bottom.)”

So here is a nasty bug: I’m in Impossible mode trying to work on Germania Inferior when two things happen. One, road access dies on the province level. I simply cannot connect industry and towns to my city even with roads. Two, a border town dies; I was actually able to delete it. Three at the end of year 54 AD the game freezes.

Was having trouble setting up the game to run through DOSBOX. Figured out that you must mount the whole directory to ‘run the game off the hard drive.’ I created a folder called caesar2 and downloaded the compressed file from abandonware and extracted it in my caesar2 folder. The extraction created another folder caesar~1. In dosbox I had to “mount c c:\caesar2\caesar~1″ then run c2.bat then press ‘spacebar’ to get it to work.

Also had issue with battle scene crashing. Downloaded the French ISO (i dont speak French) from comment 37. I opened the ISO which reveals all the files and folders for the game. I navigated to the “Pl8″ folder which appears to have all the graphics for battle scenes. I copied all files from the PL8 folder to the caesar2 folder where the other files are that I extracted from abandonware download. Battle scenes work.